IN THE COURTS OF THE NATIONS - DataSpace - Princeton ...
IN THE COURTS OF THE NATIONS - DataSpace - Princeton ... IN THE COURTS OF THE NATIONS - DataSpace - Princeton ...
got along before their good relations were ruined by Western powers. Starting in the 1980s, a generation of historians began to draw extensively from the Moroccan state archives to write the history of Jews in Morocco. 40 These scholars focus largely on the role of the state, in part because of the nature of the archives (which consist mainly of official correspondence). They adopt a narrative in which Western interference—which they see as beginning in the nineteenth century and culminating in colonization—was largely to blame for dealing the death blow to the harmonious coexistence of Jews and Muslims. 41 Such an interpretation fits well with a nationalist narrative that pinpoints Western imperialism as the source of Morocco’s troubles. This Moroccan historiography is distinct from that of Arab authors writing in the Mashriq who largely blame Zionism for disrupting the good relations among Jews and Muslims. Nor do Moroccan historians incorporate anti-Semitic stereotypes into their scholarship. 42 While there is no question that Moroccan scholars of Jewish history have made significant contributions to the field, this historiography nonetheless perpetuates the view that tolerance more or less reigned supreme among Jews and Muslims in early modern Morocco until it was ruined by an outside force. 43 40 See especially Germain Ayache, “La recherche au Maroc sur l’histoire du judaisme marocain,” in Identité et dialogue : Juifs du Maroc (Paris: La pensée sauvage, 1980), 34-5, where Ayache both calls for more researchers to use Moroccan archives in studying the history of Jews in Morocco and asserts that doing so will present a counternarrative to the neo-lachrymose histories of Moroccan Jews. 41 See esp. Kenbib, Juifs et musulmans; idem, “Muslim-Jewish Relations in XIXth Century Morocco: A Historical Approach,” in Cultural Studies, Interdisciplinarity, and the University, ed. Mohamed Dahbi, Mohamed Ezroura, and Lahcen Haddad (Rabat: Publications of the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, 1996); ‘Umar Afa, Tārīkh al- Maghrib al-Mu‘āṣir : Dirāsāt fī al-maṣādir wa-’l-mujtama‘ wa-’l-iqtiṣād (Casablanca: Maṭba‘at al-najāḥ al-jadīda, 2002), 189-92; ‘Abdallāh Laghmā’īd, “Jamā‘āt yahūd Sūs : al-Majāl wa-’l-tamaththulāt al-ijtimā‘īya wa-’l-siyāsīya, 1860-1960” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Université Mohammed V, 2002), e.g. 4-6, 128; Ben-Srhir, Britain and Morocco, 158-66; Aḥmad Shaḥlān, Al-Yahūd al-Maghāriba : min manbit al-uṣūl ilā riyāḥ al-furqa : qirāʼah fī al-mawrūth wa-’l-aḥdāth (Rabat: Dār Abī Raqrāq lil-Ṭibāʻah wa-’l-Nashr, 2009), 82-9. For a similar argument concerning Egyptian Jews, see, Joel Beinin, The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998). 42 On this, see Cohen, Under Crescent and Cross, 6-8. 43 See also Abdelhamid Larguèche, Les ombres de la ville : pauvres, marginaux et minoritaires à Tunis, XVIIIème et XIXème siècles (Manouba: Centre de publication universitaire, Faculté des lettres de Manouba, 1999), 347-92. 16
In recent years, the neo-lachrymose approach has gained prominence, especially in the field of Jewish studies (as indicated by a number of new publications by historians who espouse this view and by the lasting impact of older works in this vein). 44 Consequently, parts of this dissertation will focus more on claims made by proponents of the neo-lachrymose school. Ultimately, however, the two opposing positions have a similar effect on historical methodology. Both share a focus on how Jews were treated by Muslims, and thus seek to answer the question of whether or not Jews were victims of Islamic rule. On the one hand, seeing Jews only as victims obscures any agency that Jews had by reducing them to objects of oppression. On the other, asserting that Jews and Muslims generally “got along” ignores the real religious and social inequalities inherent in Islamic society and tends to shift the emphasis of historical analysis to the problems created by Western imperialism rather than the internal history of Islamic societies. My goal in what follows is to recover the day to day lives of Jews in their broader Islamic, Mediterranean, and Moroccan environment. In so doing, I set aside the prevailing historiographical spectrum entirely and move away from the question of “was it good for the Jews?” 45 Rather than asking how Jews were treated, I aim to understand the ways in which they interacted with Muslims and non-Jewish legal institutions on a quotidian basis. Instead of seeing Jews as passive—either passive victims of Islamic oppression or as passively benefiting from Islamic tolerance—I explore how Jews made decisions about the legal venues they frequented. Larguèche’s synthetic discussion of the history of Jews in Tunis strikes a remarkable balance between rose and neolachrymose approaches and provides a nuanced analysis of the place of Jews in the broader Tunisian society. 44 For recent publications, see especially Andrew G. Bostom, ed. The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2008); Gilbert, In Ishmael’s House; Fenton and Littman, L’exil au Maghreb. Older publications in this school remain among the most popular books on the subject, especially Stillman, The Jews of Arab Lands and Lewis, The Jews of Islam. 45 Jonathan Ray makes a similar suggestion, though he proposes a solution based on understanding medieval Jews’ attitudes towards Convivencia and a focus on individual, rather than group, identity: Ray, “Beyond Tolerance and Persecution,” 4. 17
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- Page 3 and 4: Abstract This dissertation examines
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- Page 9 and 10: and Arielle Rubenstein, Stephanie S
- Page 11 and 12: Introduction This dissertation exam
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- Page 19 and 20: of these institutions remain opaque
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- Page 33 and 34: Recently scholars working on the me
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- Page 43 and 44: Legal pluralism does not explain wh
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- Page 51 and 52: abusive Makhzan officials, infringe
- Page 53 and 54: Chapter One: Between Batei Din and
- Page 55 and 56: went to batei din and sharī‘a co
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- Page 59 and 60: Jewish and Islamic legal systems re
- Page 61 and 62: ehind, a large number were undoubte
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- Page 65 and 66: Jews used batei din not only as not
- Page 67 and 68: Jerusalem. 33 The collection consis
- Page 69 and 70: (azraqu al-‘aynayn)—a trait for
- Page 71 and 72: undoubtedly made much of their mone
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- Page 75 and 76: ‘udūl. 76 These ‘udūl, whose
In recent years, the neo-lachrymose approach has gained prominence, especially in the<br />
field of Jewish studies (as indicated by a number of new publications by historians who espouse<br />
this view and by the lasting impact of older works in this vein). 44 Consequently, parts of this<br />
dissertation will focus more on claims made by proponents of the neo-lachrymose school.<br />
Ultimately, however, the two opposing positions have a similar effect on historical<br />
methodology. Both share a focus on how Jews were treated by Muslims, and thus seek to<br />
answer the question of whether or not Jews were victims of Islamic rule. On the one hand,<br />
seeing Jews only as victims obscures any agency that Jews had by reducing them to objects of<br />
oppression. On the other, asserting that Jews and Muslims generally “got along” ignores the real<br />
religious and social inequalities inherent in Islamic society and tends to shift the emphasis of<br />
historical analysis to the problems created by Western imperialism rather than the internal<br />
history of Islamic societies.<br />
My goal in what follows is to recover the day to day lives of Jews in their broader<br />
Islamic, Mediterranean, and Moroccan environment. In so doing, I set aside the prevailing<br />
historiographical spectrum entirely and move away from the question of “was it good for the<br />
Jews?” 45 Rather than asking how Jews were treated, I aim to understand the ways in which they<br />
interacted with Muslims and non-Jewish legal institutions on a quotidian basis. Instead of seeing<br />
Jews as passive—either passive victims of Islamic oppression or as passively benefiting from<br />
Islamic tolerance—I explore how Jews made decisions about the legal venues they frequented.<br />
Larguèche’s synthetic discussion of the history of Jews in Tunis strikes a remarkable balance between rose and neolachrymose<br />
approaches and provides a nuanced analysis of the place of Jews in the broader Tunisian society.<br />
44<br />
For recent publications, see especially Andrew G. Bostom, ed. The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred<br />
Texts to Solemn History (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2008); Gilbert, In Ishmael’s House; Fenton and Littman,<br />
L’exil au Maghreb. Older publications in this school remain among the most popular books on the subject,<br />
especially Stillman, The Jews of Arab Lands and Lewis, The Jews of Islam.<br />
45<br />
Jonathan Ray makes a similar suggestion, though he proposes a solution based on understanding medieval Jews’<br />
attitudes towards Convivencia and a focus on individual, rather than group, identity: Ray, “Beyond Tolerance and<br />
Persecution,” 4.<br />
17
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